Bill Text: TX HB1370 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to requiring a single entrance to a public school campus; creating a criminal offense.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-03 - Referred to Youth Health & Safety, Select [HB1370 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB1370-Introduced.html
| 88R4357 JTZ-D | ||
| By: Schatzline | H.B. No. 1370 | |
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| relating to requiring a single entrance to a public school campus; | ||
| creating a criminal offense. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 37.1051 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 37.1051. SINGLE ENTRANCE REQUIRED; OFFENSE. (a) A | ||
| school district or open-enrollment charter school shall adopt a | ||
| policy that: | ||
| (1) limits public entry to each district or school | ||
| campus to a single entrance; and | ||
| (2) requires each external door to a district or | ||
| school campus, other than the entrance designated under Subdivision | ||
| (1), to be closed and locked to entry. | ||
| (b) A school district or open-enrollment charter school | ||
| shall post on each external door to a district or school campus, | ||
| other than the entrance designated under Subsection (a)(1), a | ||
| conspicuous sign that states that: | ||
| (1) the door is not a public entrance and may not be: | ||
| (A) used to allow another person to enter; or | ||
| (B) left open, unsecured, and unattended; and | ||
| (2) use of the door in a manner described by | ||
| Subdivision (1) may constitute an offense under this section. | ||
| (c) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly | ||
| opens an external door to a school district or open-enrollment | ||
| charter school campus, other than the entrance designated under | ||
| Subsection (a)(1), and: | ||
| (1) allows another person to enter the campus through | ||
| that door; or | ||
| (2) leaves the door open, unsecured, and unattended. | ||
| (d) An offense under Subsection (c) is a state jail felony. | ||
| (e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (c) that | ||
| at the time of the offense the person was acting: | ||
| (1) in response to an emergency situation at the | ||
| school district or open-enrollment charter school campus; and | ||
| (2) in the person's capacity as: | ||
| (A) a school district or open-enrollment charter | ||
| school peace officer, school resource officer, security personnel | ||
| member, or school marshal; | ||
| (B) a peace officer; | ||
| (C) a first responder or volunteer emergency | ||
| services personnel, as those terms are defined by Section 46.01, | ||
| Penal Code; | ||
| (D) an emergency medical services volunteer, as | ||
| defined by Section 773.003, Health and Safety Code; or | ||
| (E) the parent of or person standing in parental | ||
| relation to a student inside the campus. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
